Checking or unchecking device.



Patented Oct. 24, I899.

n. J. WYLIE. CHECKING on UNCHECKING DEVICE.

(Application filed 901;. 13, 1898.)

(No Modgl.)

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WE asses NITED STATES ROBERT JOHN WYLIE,

OF BROOKLYN, IO\VA.

CHECKING OR UNCHEC'KING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 635,367, dated October 24, 1899.

Application filed October 1 3, 1 898- To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT JOHN WYLIE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brooklyn, in the county of Poweshiek and State of Iowa, have invented a new and useful Checking or Unchecking Device, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in devices for checking and unchecking horses; and the prime purpose is to provide improved means adapted to be operated by the driver Without leaving his seat in the vehicle for the purpose of releasing the checkrein from a check-hook on the harness-saddle or to draw back on the checkrein, so as to engage the latter with the check-hook in order to make the animal hold its head up in the air, such appliance being especially serviceable when driving one or a team of high-spirited animals.

A further object of the invention is to provide means which may be readily applied to the saddle of an ordinary harness and to secure a firm metallic bearing for the slide of the checkrein when the latter is engaged with the check-hook, thus minimizing chafing and wear on the adj usting-line by which the checkrein is controlled.

A further purpose of the invention is to provide a slide which engages with the checkrein in a manner to prevent accidental separation of the parts, but which permits said rein to be readily connected or disconnected by hand.

With these ends in view the invention consists in the novel combination of elements and in the construction and arrangement of parts,

which will be hereinafter fully described and claimed.

To enable others to understand the invention, I have illustrated the preferred embodiment thereof in the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and in which- Figure 1 is an elevation of a harness applied to a horse and showing the application to the harness of my improved device for checking and unchecking. Fig. 2 is a detail perspective view of the check-hook adjusted to the position which it assumes in order to hold the checkrein and its slide. Fig. 3 is an elevation with the check-hook reversed to allow Serial No. 693,409. (No model.)

the ring and its slide to move forward on the adjusting-line to uncheck the animal.' Fig. 4. is a detail perspective view of the checkrein-slide.

Like numerals of reference denote like and corresponding parts in each of the several figures of the drawings.

In Fig. 1 of the drawings I have represented a sufficient portion of a harness for those skilled in the art to understand the application of my improved checking and unchecking device, and in said figure the numeral 10 designates the harness-saddle, 11 the back and hip straps, and 12 the checkrein. These portions of the harness are specifically referred to because the elements of myimprovement are adapted for use in connection there with; but it is to be understood that I do not confine myself to any construction of said elements or to any particular type of harness,

as it is evident that myimprovement may be used in connection with any style of harness.

The pivoted check-hook forming one of the elements of my invention is mounted or supported on a base 13, which is provided with perforated feet or flanges 14. Said base-plate is designed to be applied to the harness-saddle, and it is fastened firmly thereto by rivets 15 or their equivalents, which pass through the perforated feet 14 and are secured in or to the saddle 10. This base 13 is provided or formed with a curved arm 16, which extends in a rearward and upward direction from the base and is of a length sufficient to support the pivoted check-hook a proper distance above the harness-saddle for said checkhook to work or' play on its pivot without coming in contact with said saddle. In the drawings the base-plate is represented as consisting of two pieces and the arm is in a separate piece from the pieces of the base, all three of the parts being united firmly together by a transverse rivet; but it is evident that the base and its arm may be cast in a single piece.

17 designates a lever serving the purposes of a check-hook, which is pivoted centrally to the free rear extremityof the curved arm 16. The pivot 18 passes through the middle of said lever, thus giving to the hook the appearance of having two arms. This lever is represented as consisting of parallel plates 19, which are firmly riveted together at one end,

as at 20, and the other end of this double-plate lever is provided with a transverse pin 21, that serves to fasten the plates together and which has its ends prolonged or extended beyond opposite sides of the lever 17 for the purpose of forming stops adapted to abut against the base 13 and limit the forward movement of the lower end of said lever when the rein-slide pulls against the latter. Although I have shown this lever as consisting of plates which are united by the rivets or pins, I would have it understood that the right is reserved to cast the lever in a single piece, and such cast-metal lever should preferably contain a slot for the reception of the arm 16, on which the double-armed lever is to be pivoted. The lever is curved throughout its length, and the arm of the lever on one side of its pivot is curved in a reverse direction to the curvature of the other arm on the opposite side of the pivot 18. The lever is arranged in a vertical position, and at the end having the rivet 20 a loop or eye 22 is made fast with the lever. This loop or eye lies in the plane of the lever and it provides for the attachment of one end of the adj Listing-line 23. This adjusting-line may consist of a cord, strap, or other connection of a length sufficient to extend from the saddle over the dashboard of the vehicle which is occupied by the driver, and this adjusting-line is designed to be detachably fastened to the vehicle-body so as to be within convenient reach of the driver. The adjusting-line is doubled or looped, and one end thereof is fastened to the loop 22 at one end of the pivoted lever, while its other end is fastened to the stop-pin 21, as clearly shown by Fig. 2. The doubled adjusting-line is thus attached to opposite ends of the centrally-pivoted lever, and one strand or other of this line may be pulled to turn the lever on its pivot. The hip or back strap 11 of the harness is provided with a guide-eye 24, through which the adjusting-line is carried, so that it may be confined out of the way of the driving-reins and be prevented from entanglement therewith.

According to my invention a rein-slide 25 is connected detachably with the checkrein 12, and this rein-slide is adapted to fit on the adjusting line 23 or around the lever 17. This rein-slide is in a single piece of metal, having a loop 26, the vertical arms 27, and the oftstanding hooks 28. (See Fig. l.) The arms 27 lie at right angles to the plane of the loop 26, and the hooks 28 extend in opposite directions from the said arms. The loop 26 of this slide is curved slightly for the purpose of riding easily and freely over the lever when the adjusting-line 23 is drawn taut to pull the slide 25 in a backward direction for the loop 26 to engage with the lever. The bight or looped end of the checkrein is fitted around the arms 27 of the slide 25 so as to lie within the offstanding hooks 28, and this bight of the checkrein is free to slip around the arms 27; but it cannot become disengaged'accidentally from the slide, because the loop 20 prevents displacement of the eheckreiu in one direction, while the hooks 28 obviate movement of the checkrein in the opposite direction.

The operation is as follows: The base 13 is fastened firmly to the harness-saddle, and the guide-loop 24: is secured to the hip or back strap. The slide 25 is engaged with the bight in the eheckrein, and the adjusting-line is passed through the loop of said slide, its ends are fastened to the loop 22 and the pin 21 at the respective ends of the double-armed lever, and the doubled line 23 is then led or carried through the guide-eye 2t to a point within convenient reach of the driver. The pivoted lever normally occupies a vertical position, in which the ends of the pin 21 abut againstthe plate 13 to limit the forward movement of the lower portion of said centrallypivoted lever 17. In this position of the lever the loop 26 of the rein-slide is fitted against the lower curved arm of the lever 17, and the pull or strainof the horse on the checkrein keeps the slide 25 in engagement with said lower arm of the lever 17, whereby the pin 21 is pressed by the lever 17 and the slide 25 against the base 13 to maintain the lever 17 in its vertical position. To release the slide 25 and the checkrein from engagement with the lever 17, the operator pulls on the lower strand of the line 23, which is attached to the pin 2], and this strain on the centrallypivoted hook moves the latter to a substantially horizontal position and allows the loop 26 of the slide 25 to travel over the lever 17 and to slide upon a portion of the adjusting-line 23. The checkrein and its slide are thus released from engagement with the lever to uncheck the animal. To pull the checkrein back, the driver draws on the other length of the doubled line 23, which is attached to the loop 22 of the lever, and as this length of the line is shortened the slide 25 and the checkreiu are drawn rearwardly, so that the loop 26 ot the slide will travel over the lever 17 until said slide bears against that arm of the hook having the pin 21. The slide having been properly engaged with the lever while in its horizontal position, a continued pull on the length of the line attached to the loop 22 will raise the lever to an upright position and throw the pin 21 in a forward direction to abut against the base 13, thus limiting the turning movement of the lever on its pivotal connection with the base. The slide transmits the pull of the checkrein to the lever at a point below the pivot 18, and the lever is thus held in its upright position by the slide and the checkrein as long as the slide-loop 26 presses against that portion of the lever below its pivot 18. The

slide and lever are made of metal, and a firm metallic bearing is provided for the slide by the lever when the parts are engaged one from the other, thus reducing the chafing and wear on the adjusting-line.

Changes may be made in the form of some of the parts while their essential features are retained and the spirit of the invention embodied. Hence I do not desire to be limited to the precise form of all the parts as shown, reserving the right to vary therefrom.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is- 1. In a device for checking and unchecking, a rein-slide provided with a loop having arms which stand at right angles to the plane of the loop and terminate in the oppositely-extending overhanging hooks, in combination with a checkrein to which the overhanging hooks of the rein-slide are loosely fitted, a base having an upwardly-extending arm, a lever pivoted to said arm of the base and adapted to engage with the rein-slide, and adjusting-lines connected to said lever, for the purpose described, substantially as set forth.

2. In a device for checking and unchecking, the combination of the base having the up :wardly-extended arm, a lever pivoted at an the lever and holding it in contact with the base, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto afiiXed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

ROBERT JOHN WYLIE.

Witnesses:

O. T. OARLsoN, FRED HANSON. 

